Does anyone know which sutta this is referenced from? Would it be OK to do small talk and crack jokes for a lay person? Most of us have friends, family, co-workers who do that and we also have the need to do that at times too. Also, as for the effect, how much is your speed be incredible, will it be all the time toward everyone, that is will everyone ignore you all the time, or only for a certain situation and certain someone?

Idle chatter is pointless talk, speech that lacks purpose or depth. Such speech communicates nothing of value, but only stirs up the defilements in one's own mind and in others. The Buddha advises that idle talk should be curbed and speech restricted as much as possible to matters of genuine importance. In the case of a monk, the typical subject of the passage just quoted, his words should be selective and concerned primarily with the Dhamma. Lay persons will have more need for affectionate small talk with friends and family, polite conversation with acquaintances, and talk in connection with their line of work. But even then they should be mindful not to let the conversation stray into pastures where the restless mind, always eager for something sweet or spicy to feed on, might find the chance to indulge its defiling propensities.

Many well-known Dhamma teachers, both lay and monastic, use humor in their presentations -- which suggests to me that the issue here is purpose/intention, rather than humor per se. Laughing or smiling releases endorphins, helping us to feel at ease.

Jokes which are at someone else's expense, self-aggrandizing or malicious in nature would be an example, I think, of what Bhikkhu Bodhi cautions against.

Like anything else in Buddhism, the intention behind the action is what matters from an ethical standpoint. Sometimes we will make mistakes, but if the intention is to help or not harm, then it doesn't cause sankharas.

To my knowledge, one of the reasons that idle chatter was looked down upon by the Buddha was not because it was a harmful action, but because it stopped the sangha from running smoothly.

The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.